Serbian government will enable PPP models in mining investment projects. By the new Law on Mining, which is in the final stage, it was predicted the possibility of public-private partnerships in the mining industry, as well as strategic partnerships”, said State Secretary of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Mining and Spatial Planning of Serbia, Tomislav Subaranovic.
He said that if there were the requests for a public-private partnership in the mining field Serbia would probably accept such an offer. He added that the state wanted to find strategic partners to the mines that have already worked.
On the meeting of EU mining authorities which was for the first time held in Serbia, Subaranovic assessed that the experience of the EU state members was important in order to make closer domestic regulative to EU.
“Problems in the mining sector are similar and we cannot jump few steps in the problem solving if we know how the others deal with it”, he said.
Head of Department for systematic planning in mining and geology sector in the Ministry of Mining, Milica Zoric, stated that in the field of mining the most important for Serbia was to exchange experience with Austria and Poland, which had similar local regulations, and which were regulated in detail the way of a concession issue.
Zoric said that for Serbia, as a country which prepared to join the EU, it was important to see how these countries solved their problems, reminding that at the moment there was need to implement three EU directives related to mining waste, approvals for oil and gas exploration, and CO2 storage.
A representative of the Ministry of Economy, Family and Youth of Austria Arthur Maurer said that the coals move from state to private ownership, which Austria did in the 60s and 70s of the last century, proved to be good for the economy.
He said that Serbia, as a country rich in mineral resources, should allow the entry of private sector in the mining sector, because it would be the engine for the state development.
On the meeting took part the representatives of Finland, Germany, Austria, Estonia, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Bosnia and Herzegovina, who introduced the legislation and experience of their countries in the transformation and modernization of mining and geological exploration.
Source; Serbia Energy/Ministry of mining